


Field Trip (AKA - The New Forensics Team Goes to the Body Farm)

by torchwood221b



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-01-07
Packaged: 2018-03-06 11:12:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3132377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torchwood221b/pseuds/torchwood221b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's time to find some other people in forensics who can work with Sherlock.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Field Trip (AKA - The New Forensics Team Goes to the Body Farm)

Lestrade needed to break in the new forensics team for several reasons. First, he had to see if they could handle the types of cases he was typically assigned. Second, he needed to see how they worked together and establish a rapport with them. Third, he needed to see if they could work with Sherlock and John.

The newbies weren’t replacing Anderson, but occasionally the man did get sick or take a vacation. Figuring out who among the Yard’s newest members of forensics could best do their job and work with Sherlock without being defensive or awestruck was high on his priority list.

He had arranged for Sherlock and John to meet him at the body farm a few days before the scheduled field trip. They picked out a half dozen of bodies for the forensics team to look at and make deductions about. The body farmers detailed each of their selections’ causes of death and amount of time left out in the elements so that all Sherlock, John and Greg had to do was observe the new forensics team in action.

Knowing the causes of death in advance also gave Greg the idea to have Sherlock “get it wrong” with respect to one of the bodies. He could prepare his false deductions in advance and see just how many people took the bait and if any of them would stand up for what they thought was right.

On the day of the field trip Sherlock and John arrived while the forensics team was standing over the first body. Lestrade had asked them all to give him their initial thoughts without physically touching the body. Some of the new team didn’t seem to understand what was being asked of them and Greg had to keep them from opening their kits and taking samples.

Those who had understood what Lestrade had asked them to do each spoke to him privately to give an initial assessment. Lestrade was most impressed with those who qualified their assessments based upon his limitation or identified areas they intended to explore further once they were given the go ahead. Sherlock and John made sure to stay out of sight until after the initial assessments were complete. When the last person had given his assessment Lestrade called Sherlock and John over and made introductions.

Sherlock went through the motions of making his own initial assessment since he already knew the outcome and then Lestrade let the forensics team have at it. While they waited Greg talked to them about his initial impressions confessing that he hoped those who couldn’t follow directions had just been nervous but acknowledging that for at least one of them that probably wasn’t the case.

The consulting detective paid more attention to what the forensics team was presently doing than to Greg, which was typical Sherlock. But John and Lestrade could get along with almost anyone and he couldn’t.

By the time they’d reached the third body Greg had seen enough to know who definitely couldn’t work with Sherlock.

One of the girls kept going on about how her uni friends all bought deerstalkers and threw a “Sherlock Holmes Party” when he got famous and another one when he came back from the dead. John made sure that girl was far away from Sherlock at all times and Greg was more than happy to help.

Another girl was too easily distracted for Lestrade’s taste, she couldn’t stay focused on the task at hand and managed to separate herself from the group. When they found her she was chatting away with one of the more attractive farmers about the last body the group had examined.

One of the guys was just too nervous around Lestrade to be much help in the field, though Greg would find out later, when the man submitted a written report for each of the bodies they saw on the field trip, that he was probably the best analyst of this new group.

The team was split into two groups of four to examine bodies five and six so Sherlock could give his false deductions and see who fell for them. Lestrade divided the groups fairly evenly splitting up the four people who they still had questions about and pairing them by splitting up the three definite noes and the one definite yes.

Body number five had been buried for just over a year, cause of death however could have been several different things. Sherlock went with the obvious birdshot to the chest cause of death but anyone who examined those wounds closely couldn’t miss that the pellets didn’t penetrate deep enough to kill the victim and the correct cause of death was the head wound the victim had suffered.

For body number six Sherlock went with the less obvious injury after the victim was found buried with a broken leg and backpack full of prescription drugs that didn’t match his id. “An obvious overdose,” Sherlock told the group and explained away the broken leg by pointing to a hill nearby and saying the victim had fallen sometime after he had taken the drugs which killed him but before he died.

Once Sherlock had announced his false deductions he sat back and watched the fireworks. The Sherlock Holmes super fan, as Greg referred to her, was firmly on board with Sherlock’s conclusions and didn’t bother forming her own opinion based on the evidence in front of her.

The nervous guy buried himself in his work and pulled Lestrade aside to say he thought Sherlock was incorrect but had a hard time articulating why. The fact that he had spoken up at all moved him back into the maybe column. His detailed reports after the fact put him at the top of Lestrade’s yes list. Greg was more than willing to put in the time and effort to get this guy to be comfortable giving his analysis in the field given the quality of his work. When he showed the submitted reports to Sherlock and John they were on board as well.

Of the maybes; one sided with Sherlock’s analysis right away and two sided with Sherlock once they’d completed their own examinations although one did note that the head wound was likely a contributing factor.

The only definite yes told Sherlock that she respectfully disagreed with his analysis and informed Lestrade of her conclusions while saying that were this an actual crime she would recommend he wait for the coroners report.

The final maybe took a completely different approach to Sherlock’s false conclusions and decided to start an argument, something Sherlock, John and Greg had anticipated and while they played along at first they dropped the pretense when the guy in question raised a fist to deck Sherlock.

At the end of the day the maybes were taught a good lesson and Lestrade had all the information he needed to start making some decisions about who would join his team.

Once all the reports were in, the nervous guy, the girl who was a definite yes, and the maybe who at least noted the head wound were put on his forensics rotation.

After working directly with Anderson the maybe was moved off rotation because all she did was agree with him to his face and disagree with his findings in writing.

The other two fit right in and were welcome additions to the team.


End file.
